Means for assembling safety pins



Aug. 20, 1946.

'H. ALFANDRE MEANS FOR ASSEMBLINGv SAF-ETY PINS Filed April 25,. 1944 Zmnentor Hn eny ALF/woes Gttorncg Patented Aug. 20, 1946 UNITED STATES iO-FF ICE Application April; 25,

9. Claims.

..This, inv.ention, relates. tomeans' for use in Q assembling, a [plurality .of safety ,pins .or other loopedmembers ona carrier.

According to, one well .known method=of mer- ..chandising,articles,.such as safety .pins thelatter sarehputhup, in, bunches, composed: .of a; plurality .or safety pins, usually of difierentsizes, mounted .,on,one ofthe safety pinsof thebunch, said. last entioned. safety pin .constituting a. carrier, for

.the, other. pins of. the bunch. I Heretbfore, inacnoitdance with one method of making upabunch oof safetytpins, .the closed safety pinsare mounted one by one on the prong of an Opensafety, pin which is; vmounted :in a fixture which holds the ,open. safety ,pin in .vertical .position with the .pointed end of the prong uppermost. .;That method-of, ,making up. bunches of. safety. .pins,.is slow, .and therefore appreciably affects the pro- ,duction cost. Furthermore,that methodpresents ..a substantial :occupationalhazard since the...up-

.wardly projectin prong ;of. the safety, pin on which. the. other. pins of the .bunchare .mounted constitutes a prevailing source of .possibleinjury to, the worker or assembler. whomakes up bunches of. pinsin. the, manner. referred to.

In, accordance withthepresent invention,- the production of ,bunches of safety ,pinsmisfacili- -tate'd whereby tov reducethe, cost. of the assembling operation, and in, addition theQdangerinherent in thepreviously utilized-method referred to above is substantially eliminated. The, accomplishment of these results constitutes aprime. object' of. the. present invention.

Another object of the invention is the provirisionof a'device of simple constructionbw-which "the above mentioned results .are accomplished.

The above and other objects, features, .and advantages or the present invention .will befully "understood fromthe following description, con- "sidered, in connection with the accompanying,

illustrative "drawing.

In the" drawing Fig." 1: is-aside view of the meansprovided in accordance withtheppresent invention for .use

-*in assembling"apluralityof closed safety pins on --a-safety pin carrier forming part of the bunch;

"Fig-'2 is attopiplan view thereof;

Fig. 3 is afront viewflthereof;

.Fig, 4 is .a sectional view onthe 1ine-4.4 of ""Fi fi Fig. 5..is.a.sectional. view of apart on the, line 5- 5. of Fig. 3;

jlfigffiv is a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, .witha portion ..broken-, away .1 for .the purpose. of illustration;

.1 lilig.- 7 .is; arview of. .a, bunch of safety pins.

1944,: Serial $101,532,617

"illustratedin .Eig. =7; a pluralityrof safety pin'siS of different sizes are mounted on the .prong of another safety pin" SC-whichformspartof "the merchandising put up or hunch 1B and constitutes a carrier or holder for the first mentioned pins/of the bunch. Also, as here shown; the put- .up isprovided with agprice tagT which is slipped over'the prong of the pin' carrier. SC.

The ,means I provided in accordance :with. the .present invention, for use in. assembling pins on the pin carrier SC'comprises' theholder 10 which is. mounted in, juxtapositionto the. top l2 of a table or bench in front. of which the worker sits and on which there are arranged in any way 15,convenier1t' to the worker supplies. of safety pins "of various sizes. The holder lllcomprises laterallyspaced' parts l4$and- |6".wl1ich define ,aslot l8 'which'is ope'n'at its top as indicated at. 2B and which. is closed" at its bottom as indicated at. 22. Parts; l4*and l6, are spaced from each other-by a spacing member 24, the upper edge of which forms said closed end 22 of slot l8. Earts l4 and I6, arefixedly secured to spacing member "124' in any' 'suitable' way. Slot l8 extends longi- 25:tudina1ly' of; part" l4; and is opensat both sides. 26

thereof as: illustrated in Fig; 4. The inner vsur- "faces"28. and 30 of parts I4 and I6 areysmooth flat planer surfaces and the distance between said surfaces, disposed in confronting relation as 80shown,' is'such that the slot I8 is comparatively narrow as shown by Figs; 1" and 4. v

.Part of holder [0 .isrconstituted by a bar "which has an upper portion 32. of reduced width. "'The'front of:bar I4 is provided with a longi- LtudinaIly' extending groove which is open at "the lowerend of theiholder III as indicated at.

"The, sides of groove are defined by'the marginal edge portions 38 .of the wider portion ill of. the bar. which .constitutespart M, the upper ends of said edge portions 38 terminati gin the narrowerpart .32 :of said. bar and tapering. in thickness toathe'thickness, of said narrower or- .tion. and tapering ,alsoin-width. to the width of saidinarrower ,part asshown more clearly in Figs. 3 and 5. Part l6 comprises a portion142which is in the form ofha flat bar having a wider lower portion 44 and .a narrower upperportion. 46, said portion 42 corresponding. in width throughout its ,lengthto that. of part. 4-4. v.The upper end.of the .narrowenportion 460i part l6. projects above the top or. adjacent end of part l4 .and.. is curved --orearwar'dly.-;as indicated ,at -48 .in "Fig. 1 and .mcrgest into the integral. rearwardly extending .partl50.

- .IAS, illustrated in. Eig.L1; the holder. "1 is-secured to the table or bench in such position that the slot l8 in the holder extends vertically downwardly from the entrance opening 20 and is inclined forwardly of the table or bench, this being accomplished as here shown by 'a mounting bracket 52 which has one arm 54 thereof fastened to the back of part I6 of the holder and an arm 56 secured to the table or bench, the angle between said arms of the bracket beinggreater than 90, in order to position the holder I!) in the inclined relation illustrated in Fig. l. The portion 50 of part 16 f the holder extends down--' wardly in a direction running from the upper end 20 of slot l8 rearwardly of the latter and engages the top l2 of the table or bench in a-groove-58 as illustrated in Fig. 1. v M end portion 60 which is positioned entirely below the upper surface of the top 12 of the-table; and- 4 opening of slot I8 and utilizes part 50 as a guide to the slot so that the assembler is not required to carefully watch the movement of the pin in the transfer thereof from the table to the holder. The manner in which part 50 is utilized as a guide will be more clearly understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 which show a safety pin SI positioned transversely of part 50 so that as the assembler moves said .pin longitudinally of said part and toward the front of the table, the said pin is guided to the entrance opening 20 of the slot I8. The position of pin SI, at the entrance to slot I8, is indicated at a in Fig. 1, and the position of said pin after it enters said slot Said part 59, has a bent is overlapped by a portion of the table top as indicated at 62 in Fig. 1. Aswill hereinafter more fully appear, part 50 providesrmeans for guiding the safety pins during the transfer there- 'of by theassembler from the table top into the open end 28 of slot 3.

In using the above described means of the present invention for putting up bunches of safety pins or other looped members, the assembler sits in front of the table, that is to the left of the holder .IU viewing Fig; 1 and places safety pins in the holder ID with either side of the pin positioned in slot l8 and the opposite side of the pin disposed at the front of part 14 and extending across groove 34 in said part as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 which show a few of the safety pins disposed in slot lBin the relation just described.

The safety pins thus placedin the holder are in H tioned in the holder, another safety pin which is 'to constitute the carrier pinLSC, is positioned with the'pointed end of theprong ,of the pin in the lower end of groove 34 below the lowermost safety pin in the holder, andthen said safety pin; SC is moved upwardlyto project the prong of said pin through the openings in the safety pins in the holder, that is between the forward sides of the pin-and the bottom of the groove 34, and

and is moving by gravity down said slot is indithe safety pins in the proper sizes from the respective supplies thereof on the tabletop I2 to the holder 10 very quickly and efliciently'and with little effort in comparison with that required in accordance with the previous method of mounting the pins directly on the prong of the pin carrier. Thus it is'apparent from the above description that the present invention greatly facilitates and expedites the assembly of pins on a carrier pin for producing the bunch type 'of put up. In addition, the invention eliminates a substantial part if not all of the danger of injuries which resulted from the prior method of mounting safety pins directly on the pin prong of the carrier pin.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that the latter may be embodied otherwise than as herein specifically illustrated or described and that in the illustrated embodiment certain changes in the details of construction and in the arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the underlying idea as a continuation of this operation, the pin SC,

together with theother pins S through which" the prong of said pin SC projects are moved upwardly until the lowermost pin in the holder clears the upper tip. of part 14, thus to remove the stack of pin s from the holder while said stack of pins is mounted on the prong of the carrier pin SC. Then, while the. carrier pin SC is still I opened, the price tag T, if one is attached to the bunch as shown in Fig. 7, is placed on the prong,

plurality of looped members which have openings defined by the loopforming portions of said members, respectively, said means comprising a holder having a slot closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said looped members, said holder having a part which extends longitudinally of said slot and projects through theopenings in the looped memberswhich are disposed in said slot, said part of the holder having an outer surface provided with a longitudinally extending groove which is traversed by parts of the looped members which are disposed in said slot, said groove forming a guide for part of said carrier to guide said carrier part for. movement in said V groove longitudinally thereof between said travthe closing of said carrier pin SC completing the operation. V

In transferring the pins from the respective supplies thereof on the table top 52 to the holder ,IlL'the part 5!] of the holder is utilized by the assembler to facilitate the movement by the as,-,.

sembler of the pins on the. top of the ,table to the entrance opening 29 of slot i8. Inlthus using part of .the holder for guiding the pins in the transfer thereof from the top of the table to the holder, .theassembler moves a. pin by hand from the pile of pins on the surface'of the table toward ersing parts of said looped members and said part ,of the holder at the outer surface thereof for plurality of looped members which have openings defined by the loop forming portions of said members, respectively, said means comprising a holder having a slot closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for saidlooped members saidholder having a part which extends longitudinally of ienoaieec said slot and projects throughthe 'openings in the looped members which are disposedin said slot, and means in unitary relation =.with-= said "-holder-' fonguidingsaid looped members intolsaid open-end of's aid slot, said-partvof the holder having an outer surface provided with a longitudinally extending groove which is traversed by parts of the looped members which are disposed in said slot, said groove forming a guide for part of said carrier to guide said carrier part for movement in said groove longitudinally thereof between said traversing parts of said looped members and said part of the holder at the outer surface thereof for gathering said looped members on said carrier and removing them as a group from said holder through said open end of said slot.

3. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, and means on said one of the spaced parts at said adjacent surface thereof for guiding the open prong of the carrier safety pin for movement between the opposite sides of the safety pins which are disposed in said slot whereby to gather said last mentioned pins on said carrier pin and to remove them from said holder.

4. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, said one of the spaced parts of the holder having a groove in said adjacent surface thereof extending longitudinally of said slot and traversed by said opposite sides of said safety pins which are disposed in said slot, said groove forming means for guiding the open prong of the carrier safety pin for movement between the opposite sides of the safety pins which are disposed in said slot whereby to gather said last mentioned pins on said carrier pin and to remove them from said holder.

5. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on the carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of saidslot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, said one of the spaced parts of the holder having a groove in said adjacent surface thereof extending longitudinally of said slot and traversed by said opposite sides of said safety pins which are disposed in said slot, said groove forming means for guiding .Ihe -open rong of the" carrier safety pin for o -movement between the opposite sides of the 1 safety pins-which are disposed insaid slot =whereby to gather: said last mentioned-pins on said: carrier :pin: andto remove: them; from said holder, the other of sa'idaspacedpartshaving a guide member extending transverselyrof said .slot and leading to the open end of the latter for guiding the pins to said slot.

6. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising a holder having spaced parts defining a slot to re ceive between said spaced parts either of the v sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, a bench having an upper surface for supporting a supply of the safety pins, and means securing said holder to said bench with said slot in vertical position and with the open end of the slot near said upper surface and with said holder inclined forwardly and downwardly from said upper surface.

'7. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising a holder having spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one" end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, a bench having an upper surface for supporting a supply of the safety pins, and said holder being mounted with the open end of said slot near said surface of said bench and with said slot extending downwardly from said open end thereof, and means at the upper surface of said bench for guiding the pins to said slot.

.8. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising a holder having spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a plurality of closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite end for providing an entrance into said slot for said first mentioned sides of said safety pins, a bench having an upper surface for supporting a supply of the safety pins, said holder being mounted with the open end of said slot substantially at the level of said upper surface of said bench and with said slot extending downwardly from said open end thereof, and forwardly of the front of said bench.

9. Means for use in assembling a group of closed safety pins on a carrier which comprises another safety pin, said means comprising a holder having spaced parts defining a slot to receive between said spaced parts either of the sides of a pluralityof closed safety pins with the opposite sides of the latter disposed externally of said slot in confronting relation to the adjacent surface of one of said spaced parts, said slot being closed at one end thereof and open at its opposite extending downwardly from said open end thereend for providing an entrance into said slot for of, and means integral; with the other of said said first mentioned sides of said. safety pins, a spaced parts of the holder and positioned over bench having an upper surface for supporting a a. part of the upper surface of said bench for supply of the safety pins, said holder being 5 guiding the pins to said open end of the slot. mounted with the open end of said slot near said surface of said bench and with said slot i HARRY AIFANDRE. 

